Immigrant Youth Unemployment of Different Religion Affiliations in Canada

Youth unemployment has been a major concern in most countries across the world. This topic has generated considerable interest because unemployment can have long-term scarring effects on future pay and job attainment of individuals. A high rate of youth unemployment also suggests that a significant portion of young adults are unable to translate their human capital into first job. For immigrant youth, high unemployment rate may also suggest difficulties in their economic integration. Our study explores the relative importance of human capital resources, immigration status, and religious affiliation in affecting the likelihood of being unemployed among youth of various religious groups in Canada.

The data for our study are drawn from 2011 Canadian National Household Survey. The survey provides detailed information about religious affiliation of its respondents. Following the OECD definition, youth are defined as individuals aged 15 to 29. Given that a large proportion of immigrants to Canada originate in Asian and Middle-Eastern countries, our sample contains a substantial number of youth of non-Western religions. Our study explores the relative effects of human capital, immigration status, and religious affiliation on their likelihood of being unemployed. It also controls for the effects of racial and ethnic differences. The results of our analyses show that Muslim youth have a higher unemployment rate than youth of other religions. In terms of race/ethnicity, the results also show that youth of west Asian groups have a higher unemployment rate than youth of other racial/ethnic groups.